Influences on anglophone approaches to outdoor education

This chapter considers the contribution of three influential figures in outdoor education, as evidenced in current practice: Jack Longland, Kurt Hahn and Surgeon George Murray Levick. Without some understanding of these three characters it is difficult to make sense of outdoor education across the UK. The unifying theme running through these three people’s philosophies is that outdoor education can contribute to improving society. Longland’s emphasis was on social deprivation, while Hahn and Levick were concerned with improving the individual so that they might contribute to society. Longland opened the first local education authority residential outdoor education centre, which marked the beginning of these centres across the UK in the subsequent five decades. Kurt Hahn was an educational reformer known for the creation of Outward Bound, Round Square Schools, United World Colleges and The Duke of Edinburgh Award. He is sometimes referred to as the grandfather of outdoor education. Murray Levick was an explorer who identified his own learning and, inspired by this, started the Public Schools Exploring Society, which in turn led to the creation of a multitude of youth development expedition organisations across the UK and the world. These three individuals and their respective legacies provide insights into the foundations of current outdoor education purposes and practices in the UK.